This invention relates to an adapter for the electrical and mechanical connection of an optoelectronic component such as an LED (light emitting diodes) to a printed circuit board that lies in a case.
Two mounting technologies are commonly used for mounting electronic components on printed circuit boards. In a first technology, each component has at least two elongated leads or wires, which are inserted into plated-through holes of a circuit board and soldered in place thereat. The mounting of the wires connects the component both mechanically and electrically to the circuit board. For good mechanical mounting, the component housing lies close to the circuit board.
A second mounting technology, which has recently gained acceptance, is surface mount technology, which is often described as SMD (surface mounted device) technology. In SMD technology, SMD contacts on the components lie flat on the circuit board, and are soldered in place by wave soldering or the like. This technology avoids the need for drilled holes and allows components to be attached to both sides of the circuit board. Often, both drilled holes and surface mounting is used, because some components are not yet available as SMDs, and in some applications SMD mounting is more expensive. Important advantages of SMD technology are miniaturization of assembly, greater reliability of components, and lower cost large scale soldering methods as by machine wave soldering, vapor-phase soldering, reflow soldering, and infrared soldering.
Optoelectronic components such as LEDs (light emitting diodes) are sometimes available as SMDs. Where SMD technology is used, the plastic material which contains the LED chip must have a higher melting temperature to withstand soldering wherein components are fixed to a circuit board and then sent through a soldering furnace.
Because of miniaturization and absence of wire contacts, problems arise in the use of SMD for switches and indicators such as LEDs. It is often undesirable to position the light-emitting area of an LED or an actuator of a switch only a few millimeters above the circuit board surface, which is usually the case in SMD technology. Where the circuit board lies in an enclosure such as a case having a top wall lying a considerable distance above the circuit board, such as 10 mm or 15 mm or more, it is usually desirable to position a light emitting area of an LED close to a window in the top wall, and to position a switch actuator several mm above the wall. The same considerations apply to other sensors or actuators such as measuring devices, subminiature motors, and the like.
The object of the invention is to provide a simple adapter that enables selection of the positioning heights of components above a circuit board, while facilitating the electric connection of the component terminals to traces on the board.